As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to these users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may vary with respect to the type of information handled; the methods for handling the information; the methods for processing, storing or communicating the information; the amount of information processed, stored, or communicated; and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include or comprise a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
A group of information handling systems may be included within a data center. A data center will typically include multiple information handling systems (e.g. servers), which may be arranged in racks. Each server will typically generate heat, and the concentration of a number of servers in the defined space of a data center will generate a substantial amount of heat, which can damage sensitive components if not reduced. Special care must be taken in the particularly confined space of a containerized data center, commonly built in a shipping container, where heat can build quickly. Most containerized data centers include multiple cooling components within the shipping container to circulate air within the data center and decrease the temperature. Commonly, one cooling component is an air conditioning system that runs for extended periods of time to artificially cool the interior space of the containerized data center while the information handling systems within the data center operate. Air conditioning and other artificial cooling systems are notoriously power hungry, costly, and inefficient. Cooling components also typically include fans within the enclosure or within each server to circulate cool air through the servers. Some containerized data centers may include hundreds of fans, each of which require power to operate, increasing operating costs. Each of the fans also may, at some point, require maintenance, which typically requires taking either a server or an entire rack of servers offline for repairs.
Additionally, information handling systems, including servers, like all technology, undergoes upgrades and modifications. Data centers are often reconfigured to meet new and/or different equipment needs. This may require that individual racks and servers be relocated and/or replaced. Containerized data centers, due to the unique cooling considerations discussed above, are typically designed with cooling components and cooling systems tailored to one configuration of racks using a particular type of servers. Changing the placement of racks or the type of server in a containerized data center can render a containerized data center's cooling system ineffective. Accordingly, the cooling components and cooling systems of typical containerized data center make upgrading or modifying the data center costly and inefficient.